AFS Corporate Member Sigma Electric Manufacturing Corporation (Garner, North Carolina), a manufacturer of ferrous and non-ferrous castings, announced the acquisition of Avalon Precision Casting (Cleveland). Avalon manufactures investment castings for customers in the aerospace, defense, HVAC, power, agriculture, and oil and gas end markets.
Impro Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Impro Mexico SLP Campus in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
The campus will cover almost 2.5 million sq. ft. and have five plants, including precision machining, sand casting, investment casting, aerospace components and surface treatment.
Impro plans to invest over $100 million into the campus over the next 3-5 years, which will generate up to 1,500 new jobs locally.
Alloy Die Casting Co. (Buena Park, California), a provider of value-added manufacturing and supply-chain solutions for engineered metal components, announced an investment from PWP Growth Equity.
In a news release, Alloy Die Casting said the investment “will enable the company to further invest in people and equipment to provide additional value-added services to its customers.”
“This partnership will allow us to accelerate our investments in people, state-of-the-art equipment, and technology to support our customers’ growth,” ADC CEO Rick Simpson said.
AFS Corporate Member Faircast Inc. (Fairfield, Iowa) announced it has acquired Corporate Member Galesburg Castings (Galesburg, Illinois).
In a news release, Faircast said "the increase in business with this acquisition will bring Faircast one step closer to a major modernization that includes new molding lines and sand systems."
The American Foundry Society (AFS) highlighted metalcasting careers to students, teachers, and families during its Manufacturing Day Open House on Oct. 4, 2019.
The event is part of a coordinated annual national celebration by the manufacturing industry to show the public its importance to the economy and address common misconceptions about manufacturing. Companies are encouraged to open their doors to their communities and show what they make, the technologies they use, and the promising career paths available.
Aalberts N.V. (Utrecht, Netherlands) has reached an agreement to acquire AFS Corporate Member Applied Process, which has U.S. locations in Livonia, Michigan; Oshkosh, Wisconsin; and Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Applied is active in the austempering process, a heat treatment technology to solve engineering problems.
“Most of the business is derived from engineering conversions, providing conceptual design and engineering assistance,” the company said in a release. “A dedicated R&D center is supporting the customers with this conversion and developing new technologies.”
The Board of Directors of AFS Corporate Member Deere & Company has elected John C. May as a member of the board, and to the position of CEO, effective November 4.
May has served as Deere’s president and COO since April 2019.
AFS Corporate Member American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings (Detroit) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Grede, its U.S. iron casting operations, to funds managed by Gamut Capital Management for $245 million.
The sale is the latest change for Grede, which was acquired by AAM in 2017 when it purchased Metaldyne Performance Group for $3.3 billion.
Allison Transmission (Indianapolis), the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, made a strong move into metalcasting with its purchase of Walker Die Casting (Lewisburg, Tennessee) and C&R Tool and Engineering (Muscle Shoals, Alabama).
Allison, which purchases thousands of tons of castings per year, paid approximately $103 million in cash for Walker Die Casting and C&R Tool and Engineering.
Tesla filed a patent for a casting machine that could help streamline production for future vehicle projects. The diecasting machine is likely to be part of several manufacturing improvements for its Model Y program.
CEO Elon Musk has said Tesla is shifting to an aluminum casting design instead of stamped steel for the Model Y.
Tesla’s patent is for a “Multi-Directional Unibody Casting Machine for a Vehicle Frame and Associated Methods.”